Two Hearts
by Zip Goes A Million
Summary: Sybil x Tom Romance Week 2017, Day 2: Historical Romance. Set in the same universe as Broken Hearts Can Heal. Sybil and Tom are getting to grips with parenthood in the 1950s.


_Today's theme of Sybil x Tom Romance Week 2017 is Historical Romance. I've decided to write this 1950s AU in the same universe as my story Broken Hearts Can Heal. This is sort of a prequel to that story. Broken Hearts Can Heal is one of the fics I'm most proud of, so whether you read it before or after Two Hearts, I really suggest that you do read both fics so that you can get the whole story. But anyway, I hope you enjoy this little story._

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 **Two Hearts**

Sybil lay Kathleen in her cot and smiled down at her. She was a perfect baby and Sybil couldn't have asked for anything better. Sybil had only been a mother for a month, but she could barely remember her life before having a daughter. The last month had been the hardest of her life. Midnight feeds and unwarranted screaming and being covered in various bodily fluids, most of which weren't her own, had taken its toll on Sybil, but it didn't make her love her daughter any less. The hardest month of her life, yes, but also the best.

She left her daughter to sleep and made her way downstairs. When she walked into the kitchen, she saw her husband who had just come home from work and put the kettle on the stove top.

"You came in quietly," Sybil said, causing Tom to turn at the sound of her voice.

"Did I?" Tom asked, approaching Sybil to kiss her. "It wasn't intentional." He stood back from Sybil and admired her figure. She was wearing a light blue sleeveless blouse, tucked into a navy blue full skirt with a wide blue belt over the waist band to give the illusion of a smaller waist (not that Sybil needed much of an illusion). "You're gorgeous."

Sybil felt herself blush slightly at his words. He had called her gorgeous countless times before. He had called her beautiful and pretty and stunning. And mostly, she knew that she was all of those things. But recently, she hadn't been feeling so physically attractive. She had just had a baby. Her body had been through a lot and she wasn't sure how to feel about her figure anymore. She wasn't sure she loved her body as much as she used to. But that didn't change the fact that Tom loved Sybil and her body. To him, she was just as gorgeous as she had always been.

"I mean it," he insisted. "You're beautiful. I know you don't think you are. But I know you are. And you get more beautiful every day."

He pulled her close to him and started nipping at her neck.

"Oi!" Sybil weakly protested. "We've got dinner to make."

"It can wait," Tom growled.

"No it can't," Sybil said. "If you start anything with me now, we'll be interrupted by Kathleen mid-flow."

"Alright, alright," Tom said, verbally giving up his fight, but physically making no effort to stand down.

"Tom," Sybil warned.

"Mmm," he murmured against her skin, sending a shiver down her spine.

It took all her strength to step away from him.

"You need to learn some self-control," she laughed.

"It's never been an issue before," he smiled. Sybil smiled back at him, unable to hold back her love for her husband.

"You've never had a daughter before," Sybil said, moving to the stove top.

"How is the little one?" Tom asked. He had had limited time with his daughter since her birth, due to his hectic working hours and having a childless boss who didn't fully understand the needs of a new father.

"She's been good as gold today," Sybil said. "I've just put her down for a nap."

"Good as gold?" Tom asked. "Takes after her dad then!"

"When was the last time you were good as gold?" Sybil mocked, preparing mugs for when the kettle whistled and getting out various food items from cupboards and the refrigerator to prepare dinner.

"I'm always good as gold!" Tom said indignantly. "Am I not?" He moved behind Sybil and snaked his arms around her waist.

"The evidence would suggest otherwise," Sybil said, taking his arms away from her body and stepping away from his grasp. "Oh, I found an old photograph of me earlier on," Sybil remembered. "It's on the table next door. Go and have a look."

Tom followed his wife's order and went to seek out the photograph. When he returned, he was holding it in his hands and looking between Sybil and the image.

"This is you?" Tom asked. The photograph showed Sybil when she was a baby in the 1930s, asleep on her mother's lap in the small library of Downton Abbey. Mary was sitting next to Cora, looking particularly put out that she wasn't getting the attention she wanted. Cora was smiling at the camera, but she looked mildly exhausted. Sybil knew the feeling. She couldn't imagine how Cora did it with three children, let alone one.

"Yes," Sybil said. "I was only a few months old."

"You look exactly like Kathleen," Tom said, astonished at the uncanny resemblance between mother and daughter.

"Scary, isn't it?"

"Are you sure she's mine?" Tom teased, knowing full well that his wife would never be unfaithful to him.

"I know she looks like me, but her genes aren't entirely mine," Sybil said, chopping up potatoes.

Tom joined her in making dinner, chopping onions next to her.

"If she's got your looks, she's going to be in trouble. She's going to get so much attention that she won't know what to do with herself when she becomes a teenager," he said.

"She'll be fine," Sybil said. "I managed just fine."

"But you did get a lot of attention, didn't you?" Tom asked.

"Not as much as you might think," Sybil said. "Everyone would look at me and then find out about Mary, and start chasing after her instead."

"But you're far more beautiful than Mary," Tom said. "And you have a warmer heart."

"Ah," Sybil said, "but you underestimate the power of unrequited love. It's very powerful. Men only want what they can't have."

"So you're saying I should let anyone go for Kathleen when she's a teenager?"

"I'm saying that she can look after herself. I did. And I managed pretty well. But then again, I did marry you, so maybe I wasn't quite alright in the head."

Tom mocked offense and tickled Sybil's waist.

Sybil shrieked and cackled.

Kathleen's cry flooded the house.

"Go and fetch your daughter," Sybil ordered. "That was your fault for tickling me!"

Tom disappeared upstairs, coming down a few moments later with his daughter wrapped in his arms. She was sucking at her fingers and making little noises.

"She's beautiful, Sybil," Tom whispered, bouncing his daughter gently in his arms.

Sybil walked across the kitchen to them, leant down to kiss her daughter's fluffy head and stretched up to kiss her husband's lips.

"I know," she said. "If Kathleen finds someone as perfect for her as you are for me, she'll be set for life."

"I never want to let her go," Tom whispered, staring lovingly at his daughter.

"You'll have to eventually," Sybil said. "But you've got almost twenty years before then."

"Well then we'll have to make the most of the next twenty years, won't we," he said, loving his wife and his daughter and his family.

"Yes," Sybil said. "But right now, Kathleen needs to go back to bed and we need to crack on with dinner or we won't be eating at all tonight."

Tom smiled at Sybil and took the hint. He walked Kathleen back up the stairs and gently placed her down in her cot. As if she knew what she was supposed to do, she fell asleep almost instantly and Tom watched her chest move up and down with her slow breaths for a few minutes before making his way back down to his wife.

"I hope you know that I love you," Tom said, sneaking up behind his wife and wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I do," Sybil said, putting down the knife and turning to face her husband.

Tom held Sybil's waist softly and looked at her lovingly. He leant down to kiss her and she moved her hands up to run through Tom's hair.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you so much," Tom said.

He kissed Sybil again, more deeply this time. They were interrupted by the whistling of the kettle.

Tom pulled away reluctantly, but kept hold of Sybil's waist.

"Kettle's boiled," he said.

"We need to get dinner on," Sybil replied, not wanting to leave her husband's grasp.

Tom kissed Sybil quickly before moving away to get the kettle off the heat. Sybil loved him more than she knew possible, and she couldn't quite believe how lucky she was to have him in her life. The past month hadn't been easy by any stretch, but it had been the best month of her life. All she knew is that she wanted to be a mother, and now that she was one, she wanted more children. Probably only one or two more, but she couldn't possibly stop with Kathleen. Sybil felt that she was made to be a mother, to have children to love. She had more love in her than she knew and she wanted to give it out as much as she could.


End file.
